


To A Dear Friend

by TheBringerOfPain



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Poor Bilbo, This hurts me more than it hurts you, Thorin Feels, this makes me cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBringerOfPain/pseuds/TheBringerOfPain
Summary: Three months after Bilbo Baggins returns to the Shire, he writes a letter for the late Thorin Oakenshield, who was a dear friend to him.





	To A Dear Friend

**Author's Note:**

> I loved the relationship between Bilbo and Thorin in The Hobbit trilogy, so I thought it would be cool to write a letter that Bilbo could've written for him after everything happened. This is not a ship story.

My Dear Thorin,

I'm back home. It has been three months since I left the Lonely Mountain and returned to the Shire. It feels odd, being back. I spent a long time away from home, and for a large portion of that time, I just wanted to be back home. Now that I'm back, it doesn't feel right. As if I left home behind when I got back, instead of the other way around. The truth is, I don't like being back here. I want to see Elves again. I want to see mountains again. I don't know what it is about the mountains, but they bring a tear to my eye whenever I think of them.

I planted that tree, just like you told me to. I've been watching it grow into something really beautiful, something that reminds me of you. I'm thinking of calling it the Party Tree. It sounds festive, and provokes happy thoughts. Every time I look at it, I remember everything that happened, the good and the bad. I will be honest though, Thorin, I feel sad being here. I want to go again. I want another band of dwarves to come collapsing into my home again to sweep me away on another adventure. This time I would go without a fight.

Life in the Shire never changes. Everything was the same coming back as it was before I left. No fire-breathing dragon comes swooping down to burn the Shire. What do we have that a dragon would want? The answer is simple, my friend. Nothing. I feel lonely here, like the Lonely Mountain itself. I'm tired of the same routines and the same conversations that us hobbits are so tragically accustomed to. When I came back, half of the Shire was at my door, selling everything I own because they thought I was dead. It was then that I truly understood your feelings about having something you valued taken from you. I had to show them my signature on the contract to prove I wasn't dead, and even then, it took a lot of time to get all my possessions back. By the time I got everything back, I was so over it all I didn't even care that a few spoons didn't make it back.

If there was one thing I wish I had told you before you passed, it's that I found something in the goblin tunnels. It was a magic ring. It gives me the ability to disappear every time I put it on. That is how I was able to escape the tunnels and how I was able to get up Ravenhill to warn you of the Orcs coming. It has helped me very much, and I never want to part with it. It's mine, my own, and it will stay that way. I'm sure you would understand.

The last thing I want you to know is that I forgive you for threatening me to throw me from the rampart after I told you that it was I that took the Arkenstone and gave it to the enemy. In the end, you realized the error of your ways and led your people like any true king would. You had more bravery than I could possibly ever take credit for and I miss you dearly. I wish I could see another brave act of yours, even if it was just one last time. When the auctioneer in the Shire asked me who you were, I just told him that you were my friend. That's who you were, and that's who you are. Thank you again for allowing me to share in your perils. As I told you, it's far more than any Baggins deserves.

Someday, I'm going to write a book about the adventure I had with you. I've already thought of a name for it, 'There and Back Again'. It will need a good ending, a good last sentence. I promise I will think of one. A great experience such as the one I had deserves to be written down. No, Gandalf the Grey had nothing to do with my decision to go. I don't want him to have the credit.

At your service,

Bilbo Baggins


End file.
